


Secrets and their prices

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Angst, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Misunderstandings, Omega Bucky Barnes, POV Multiple, Pining, Secret Identity, Secrets, Sexual Content, Supervillain Iron Man, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-17 08:31:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Bucky's in love with Tony, who he thinks is Steve's boyfriend. Tony's in love with Bucky, only the idiot keeps leaving when Steve's around, and it turns out that Tony accidentally has more than one secret identity from Bucky.





	Secrets and their prices

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blue_jack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_jack/gifts).



> For the prompts "Bucky's been in love with Tony for a long time, but he knows how Steve feels about Tony, and he'd never do anything to get in the way. (Steve can actually be in love with Tony, or Bucky can just misunderstand the situation)" and a little of "Sugar daddy AU where Bucky doesn't know Tony is THE Tony Stark." and "Supervillain AU" because if I CAN combine prompts I WILL. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy <3

Bucky figured that the worst aspect of his life wasn’t what most people would assume. It wasn’t fighting supervillains, having a secret identity, or adjusting to the future; it was that he was in love with his best friend’s fella.

Fighting supervillains? No problem. He was never alone ~~not anymore, god, never again~~ , and anyways it was the same three baddies most days. Red Skull was the only truly bad one as Doom never created anything that was more than annoying, and Iron Man seemed to care more about having fun and exposing corrupt dealings than actually hurting anyone (although the occasional building wasn’t on the same level). And while Bucky wouldn’t freely admit it to Steve, that suit of Iron Man’s was incredible.

Secret identity? Well, it _would_ be a problem if he had friends outside of the Avengers, but as it stood, Steve was his best friend, roommate, _and_ Captain America, and everyone else he met because they were already on the team together.

Adjusting to the future? Not as hard as it could have been. He was definitely doing better than Steve at it, having had brief stints as the Winter Soldier to learn how to use technology and see and acclimate to the world every few years. Not to mention that he’d always wanted to see the wonders of the future, and now he got to. Going back to a time where being with a man was illegal (even if he was of an according secondary gender) and struggling to make enough money to eat wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Tony though? God. Steve had brought him home one night while Bucky was stress-baking (therapy baking? Some kind of baking that wasn’t just because he wanted cake, _and_ something his therapist at Shield had recommended) and put him in a chair at their kitchen table with strict orders not to move like he was a toddler that had gotten in the mud. Tony had pouted and whined, “But Steeeeeve,” but he didn’t actually try to move beyond slumping over the table. To this day Bucky didn’t know if he had been too tired to fight or just didn’t care to.

“Bucky this is Tony, he’s an _idiot_ ,” he pitched his voice louder on ‘idiot’ as if Tony wasn’t sitting three feet away and perfectly capable of hearing him without the modification.

Bucky only meant to glance at Tony, but found himself doing a double-take. Gorgeous didn’t begin to cover it, and he was only in greased stained pants and a t-shirt so well worn it was practically threadbare. He had a neatly trimmed goatee, doing little to make up for his wild hair. Underneath the smell of smoke and metal was the sweetness that marked an Alpha, and Bucky hoped he was as great as he smelled. He must look like a dream in a suit or- hell, nothing at all. “You don’t look like an idiot,” Bucky found himself saying.

Tony beamed at him and Bucky’s heart thumped loudly in his chest despite how little the interaction was. He wanted to be mad at himself for playing into the Omega stereotype, but then he found himself talking to Tony as he frosted cupcakes, and while Tony joked more than saying anything concrete about his life, Bucky wanted to keep him around longer. Steve was shoving food and drink at Tony with a stern look that Bucky recognized since he’d started leading the Avengers. Steve had had that look before of course, but the Howlies hadn’t warranted it, and before that Steve had been the one getting in trouble.

Bucky was gearing himself up to ask Tony to visit more often-- not for a date, not yet, he didn’t want  to drag Tony into his convoluted life of secrets without making _sure_ it was worth it-- but stopped when he saw the way Steve was looking at Tony: fond, happy, and- lovingly.

He swallowed thickly and looked away. If there had been any doubt about the nature of their relationship, the kiss Tony pressed to the corner of Steve’s mouth before he left cleared it. Steve hadn’t mentioned anything about a relationship to him, but Steve was always like this with partners-- secretive until he knew it was serious, and even then hesitant to make an announcement. Bucky had only met one of Steve’s ex’s, the rest he learned about after they’d already broken up. That Steve had brought Tony around… well, Bucky needed to get rid of that little almost-crush before it became an issue. Stevie didn’t have a mating mark yet, but Bucky knew how big a decision that was for him, more so than most people because of the almost-relationship he’d had with Peggy and how that had turned out. However, the lack of that mark meant Bucky had a bit of a problem stamping out the hope that maybe they’d break up and he’d have a chance ~~he hated how badly he wanted that to happen~~.

Tony had started coming by frequently after that initial meeting, almost always hungry and sleep deprived, like the only way he could sleep was if Steve was nearby. Bucky had first thought it with bitterness, and immediately after that, guilt. If Tony could only rest because of Steve, then he _should_ be at their apartment. Bucky was practically sick with nerves the first time Tony came over when Steve was gone, falling over himself apologizing, but Tony ended up falling asleep on the couch like usual without any problems, barely pausing to ask where Steve was before collapsing in one of their chairs. He tried to tell himself it was because Steve’s scent would be everywhere in here, but it didn’t stick when Tony grabbed the pillow Bucky always used to burrow his face in.

After that, well. Bucky had never really stood a chance in the first place.

When the weather turned cold, Tony started showing up with coats on his shoulders as well as his usual well worn clothes, but Bucky noticed his too-pink hands and snuck a pair of gloves in his coat pocket before he left. Tony never said anything about it, but the next time he came over, he was wearing them.

* * *

Rhodey and Pepper both had their arms folded across their chests and were giving him Disapproving Looks. It really wasn’t fair that they were allowed to team up against him like this and he told them so.

Pepper was the one to start, “Tony, you cannot just go off on your own like that, we are a team. Yes, arguably you are the leader of that team, but we are a _team_ , all the same. It was reckless to leave without War Machine and Rampage.”

“It was worse than reckless to leave without even telling us you were going out,” Rhodey said. “You needed backup and we weren’t there and you didn’t give us a chance to be. If Zemo had had even one of his jets, we’d be putting flowers on a grave right now.”

“Actually you’d be dealing with funeral arrangements and stock prices dropping and trying to make sense of the blueprints I left behind, and-” he stopped when they both doubled down on their looks. “But he didn’t, honey-bunches! So I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Look at me! I’m fine,” Tony said, spreading his arms wide, showing off that, yes, by his definition he was fine. However, the blood on his head from a near concussion didn’t fit Pepper and Rhodey’s definition of fine, so they glared at him. At least they didn’t know about the massive bruise on his ribs. Blunt force was a bitch, and there was only so much the suit could absorb. “Okay, well, I will _be_ fine in a day or two, so stop worrying. Next time I’ll call you, won’t fly off on my own, we can kill the Nazis together, it’ll be a great party, et cetera et cetera.” He turned back to the projection of the damage his suit had taken. “We done here?”

“If you don’t bring me along next time, I’m making you attend three more events next month,” Pepper threatened in an even tone. Tony figured he deserved that-- she really did like blowing things up, Nazi’s in particular, and no matter what else could be said about that last excursion, it was definitely explosive.

“The kind where the old lady omega widows will pinch your ass,” Rhodey added.  

Tony grimaced and nodded. “Duly noted Miss Potts.”

A few more minutes of them berating him, and they left with fresh promises that Tony would only go out on missions they had all talked about beforehand. Tony thought he could hold to that for a week or two without any problems, months before he got caught again. This hadn’t even been an official mission, just some information gathering that got turned to shit when Zemo stumbled across him.

Tony wrapped his ribs with the help of Jarvis and the ‘bots, idly wondering if he could swing a visit to Bucky. Bucky was always happy to see him, but shied away from the prospect that Tony was there to see him and not Steve. If Steve was there, he’d scamper off (not that Bucky ever _truly_ scampered but it was the spirit of the movement) after a while to ‘give them privacy’, and no amount of flirting changed his mind about sticking around.

* * *

Tony eventually went to Bucky-- as he usually does-- after being awake for 36 hours. Oh he was still fully capable of staying up longer and inventing, but he’d become accustomed to having Bucky’s scent around him when he was in between days of sleep, and if he wanted any rest at all, he’d have to go over. Not that this was a hardship. Given half an excuse he’d go over there, but when he’d been up a while, Bucky seemed more relaxed around him, like he expected Tony to only be there if he hadn’t slept in a while. Tony still couldn’t stick his nose in Bucky’s neck and get a good whiff because he knew how uncomfortable it would make him, but god he wished he could. He wished they were close enough that he could do that on a regular basis.

Tony smiled as the door opened, the smile widening when he saw that it was Bucky answering. “Hey Bucky-babe.” He gave him a quick hug as he passed, not lingering like he wanted. “Steve around?” he asked. He liked Steve, of course he did, he was Tony’s closest friend that didn’t know about the Iron Legion-- his closest friend that was separate from the whole superhero/supervillain mess-- but if Steve was here, Bucky would leave instead of keeping him company. Tony sat on their couch, half collapsed without taking off his shoes or coat, though he was sure Bucky was accustomed to that sort of behaviour from him by now.

“Uh, no. Sorry,” Bucky apologized, despite knowing that by now, Tony didn’t care whether or not Steve was there. “I can call him if you want?” he offered, hand already reaching for his pocket.

Tony waved him off. “Don’t worry about it and come keep me warm.”

“When was the last time you ate?” Bucky asked, instead of moving closer like he _should_ have. Honestly, did Tony have to do everything?

Tony squinted at the ceiling as he thought, as if it had the answer. Jarvis did usually respond to these kinds of questions, so technically, yes, the ceiling should have the answer.

Bucky shook his head with a smile. “Then it’s been too long. I was planning on pizza, that good with you?”

“Sure,” Tony mumbled, rubbing a hand across his face, already more tired than when he’d walked in twenty seconds ago. Being here was like a sign for his body that it was time to sleep. Bucky sat next to him, pulling his computer onto his lap and opening it up. He was sitting closer to Tony than he would have if Steve were there, which was all kinds of delightful. Tony snuggled up to him and laid his head on his left shoulder, fitting easily with no arm in the way-- it turns out that trying to put usable, high-tech prosthetics on the market was a hell of a lot harder than making a single one for the Winter Soldier, even though they’d never met. (Pepper had had to ban him from the human part of this project otherwise he would have bashed someone’s head in by now.)

He grabbed the remote to pull up Netflix, planning on picking up Voyager from where they left off, but froze. The tv was paused on a show Tony had only ever heard about as a joke, the current episode titled ‘Iron Man and the Iron Legion: Are They Villains?’. As Iron Man, he was excited by the prospect of Bucky not hating him (even if it was a secret part of him), but the public all thought that Iron Man hated Tony Stark, and if Bucky was watching this, it didn’t bode well for him. “Uh Buck?”

“Hm?” he asked, not looking up from his computer screen where he was ordering pizza.

“What is this?”

Bucky looked up, then paled slightly. He snatched the remote from Tony’s hand so quickly his laptop fell half onto Tony, but he paid it no mind. “Nothing, just some stupid conspiracy show, I thought it’d give me a few laughs.”

“...Okay.”

Bucky turned on Star Trek, tossed the remote on Tony’s free side, and pulled his laptop back where it belonged, then proceeded to pretend like nothing strange had happened. Tony wanted to ask, wanted to poke and prod until Bucky broke and told him why the hell he’d been watching that. Bucky hated talking about superhero/supervillain things, said he didn’t know enough about what was really going on to correctly judge the situations and people involved, but then he turned around and watched this?

After a few minutes, the tension faded and Tony dozed off against Bucky, only rousing when the pizza was delivered to scarf down a few pieces, then claiming Bucky as a pillow/mattress again. When he got home he looked up the episode about the Iron Legion. They speculated that although Stark products were taken, because no information was revealed, no one was hurt, and nothing was ever destroyed by these ‘attacks’ (the quotes were put by the narrator, not him), Tony Stark and Iron Man were actually working together. And they made it sound like a good thing. Tony stared at the screen and asked Jarvis to confirm that he wasn’t hallucinating. Jarvis said, after a quick scan, that yes, he was fine, although that didn’t really surprise Tony. This would make the first time the theory of their partnership was seen as positive, and _Bucky had been watching it_. Granted the episode had been more focused on the Iron Man part of the partnership than the Tony Stark part, but still.

Tony went back the next day to visit, awake but mind too scattered to do more than work on one of his cars, so here he was, on their doorstep for the second day in a row. He’d timed it so that-- hopefully-- Steve would be going to work in an hour or two and he could spend the rest of the day with Bucky. He’d started reading Lord of the Rings for the first time a week ago, and Tony was excited to ask how he was liking it since he hadn’t had a chance yesterday. And, if somewhere among the talk of hobbits and rings and such, he could slip in a brief interrogation about what Bucky thought of Iron Man, then all the better!

Except when he knocked there was a bit of a delay, and then a small crashing sound followed by Bucky cursing.  

Tony frowned at the door, wondering idly if he should have called ahead. It had never been a problem before, and he didn’t see why it would now, but maybe he’d just caught Bucky when he was in the middle of a project. “Bucky? You okay in there?”

A pause in the shuffling. Then, “Tony?”

“Yeah.”

The chain rattled as Bucky’s hand brushed against it, and Tony heard the snick of the locks being undone. The door swung wide to show Bucky, looking flushed in his sweats and nothing else with his hair pulled back.

Seeing him was like diving in a pool of want, and Tony didn’t remember why he’d come over or what he was expecting, all he could think was _Bucky_ and the fact that he looked like he’d walked straight out of one of Tony’s wet dreams. Bucky smiled at him, before reaching out with his one arm and dragging Tony in. He kicked the door closed and hugged Tony, hunching over so he could bury his face in Tony’s neck. Bucky rumbled happily, and Tony automatically tilt his head to the side for him, earning another happy noise. “You smell divine sweetheart.”

Tony’s heart skipped a beat, and he prayed Bucky couldn’t feel it. He backed Tony against the door, causing Tony to swallow, and _fuck_ there was no chance Bucky didn’t feel that. He chuckled lowly at it, scooping Tony up, using his arm and body to keep him propped higher, and pressing every line of his torso against him. He mouthed along Tony’s neck, sometimes it bore the semblance of a kiss, other times he was just panting hotly against the skin.

Either way, Tony was heady with want, his mind too cloudy to think about the why’s or how’s because good _christ_ Bucky was pressing up into him and he was hard. Tony’s own body started to react and Bucky rocked up into him again. He only snapped out of it when Bucky breathed, “Alpha,” in a reverent tone.

 _Shit shit shit_ **_shit_**. Frantically, he pushed at Bucky’s shoulders. “Stop. Bucky, stop.”

It took a second for the words and intent to get through his hindbrain, but then he dropped Tony the few inches to the ground and stepped back a couple feet looking wounded, his arm coming up to hug himself.

Tony wanted to pull him back in and make it better but… fuck. He ignored the unfortunately familiar feeling of his chest tearing in two and took out his phone and to text Steve. He tried to breathe out heavily through his nose in the semblance of a sneeze, but it was useless; Bucky’s scent was everywhere.

**Bucky’s in pre you coming home soon? He’s close**

The answer came a second later. **Yes.**

**Went to store for supplies.**

**Eta 3 mins.**

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. He jerked his head up when he heard Bucky whine, high and so soft he’d almost missed it. He swallowed, looking away before he could even truly look at him. “Steve’s going to be back soon to take care of you, alright?” He felt for the doorknob behind him blindly, turning it and starting to open the door before he was even in the appropriate position to leave.

He closed the door behind him and stood to the side to wait for Steve. It’s not that he thought Bucky would try to leave, but if he’d been that willing to bring Tony to his bed, he probably would invite any asshole that dropped by. Not that that was a bad thing for Bucky to want, Tony reminded himself. Bucky wasn’t his mate, wasn’t anywhere close to it, and for some Omegas, all they wanted for their heat was an alpha to stay with them. But that was to be negotiated beforehand when it was assured they were thinking clearly, and Bucky obviously wasn’t right now.

Tony shook his head and rubbed at his chest over the covered arc reactor as if that would help the sensation at all. Steve showed up what felt like seconds later. “Tony, are you okay?”

Lethargically, Tony raised his head to look at him. Huh. Must have been more than a few seconds then. “Yeah I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Steve hesitated, looking at the door of his apartment with Bucky and back at Tony. “Buck can get… touchy… about people being in our home when he’s in heat, it’s gotten violent in the past. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt you. Not that I think he would,” Steve rushed to say, “it’s just- sometimes-”

“Shit happens,” Tony finished for him, nodding in understanding. He waved him off. “Nothing did, go take care of him.” Tony started to walk away but stopped with Steve’s hand on the doorknob. “You know… there are services. Alphas you can hire for heats if he needs them. I can- uh- send you a link if you want.”

Steve looked more surprised than Tony thought he would, along with a few other emotions he couldn’t place. “No, that’s- I mean, thank you, but- that’s not necessary. Thanks Tony.”

Thrown and drained and hurting even though it hadn’t really been a rejection (he’d been the one to push Bucky away and leave, after all), Tony just nodded again before leaving as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. He went back to the tower and locked himself in the workshop, trying to build the memories out of his head so he didn’t reach for a bottle.

He was successful; he was fine. ...Until he was getting ready for bed and pulled off his shirt only to get hit with a wave of Bucky, scent sweetened with heat in a way he hadn’t had the chance to notice earlier, too preoccupied with the things Bucky was doing and the way the scent had enveloped him in that first moment. He was hard and reaching a hand down his pants before he even realized what was going on.

He jerked his hand out, throwing the shirt away from him and flushing red with shame. He stalked away only to return a minute later with slow, halting steps. He knelt on the floor next to the discarded shirt, picking it up and holding it to his face even as he was filled with self-loathing. It had been years since he spent a heat with an omega, his last two relationships over the last decade having been with an alpha and beta. He’d forgotten how good it could be, to satisfy his hindbrain like that, to give it everything it wanted as he spent days caring for someone else.

He moved his hand so the shirt was covering his nose and inhaled deeply. He took himself in hand and slowly started to work himself over. The first section of their heat was always about sex. An orgasm or three later and they calmed down, and after that was Tony’s favorite part-- the time when he could hold them and tell them how great they were, feed them fruit and be intimate without the pressure sex tended to bring.

He started panting into the shirt, his breath making it uncomfortably warm against his face but he didn’t dare move Bucky’s scent away. God he was close. His hips were twitching, thrusting up into his too-dry hand but he didn’t care. That was what made this so bad; he wasn’t getting off because it was the near-secure possibility of sex.

He bit into his lip as he came, his hand dropping from his face to his chest and accidentally rubbing the shirt in his come. No, this was bad because he wanted to be close to Bucky, wanted the intimacy, to hold him and stroke his hair, and _that’s_ what he got off on. It was one thing to jerk off thinking about him, it was another to do it while smelling his heat scent. Invasive.

Tony wrapped his arms around himself as his eyes filled with tears. He stumbled to the shower and barely restrained from turning the water hot enough to burn. He called Rhodey and stayed on the line with him until he came over, wrapping his arms around him and telling him how proud he was for staying strong.

Why couldn’t he have fallen in love with Rhodey? He hadn’t even asked what was wrong, just knew from Tony’s hello that he needed him and drove to the tower. He was dead on his feet, but he stilled said, “Thank you for calling me,” and meant it. Tony always imagined what his life would be like with Bucky more involved in it, how good it could be, but he couldn’t imagine his life being anything other than miserable without Rhodey. He probably would never have stopped drinking and would be six feet under right now, would have been for years. The thought made him curl in on himself, but Rhodey was there, a physical reminder that that would never happen.

* * *

The next mission they flew was uneventful, and Rampage was itchy because of it. It helped soothe Tony though, so the next time, they went to one of Zemo’s bases and blew it to hell for fun. Pepper was in a good mood for the week following that, and Tony would have been right there next to her if it weren’t for the heat incident. He hadn’t talked to Bucky since then, hadn’t exchanged more than a cursory text with Steve. He tried not to think about it, because other than that, his life was going pretty damn great.

Jarvis was-- as always-- keeping an eye on Shield’s servers for any hint that Fury knew who they were or was planning on targeting them. Every now and then he’d catch some underhanded dealings they recorded about businesses or politicians, and Tony would look into it further. Most of the time the Iron Legion took care of it, but every now and then they’d leave it alone if it looked like Shield was taking action soon.

Jarvis had his digital fingers in so many pies it was hard to keep track of what all they were monitoring. For example, Tony had forgotten that as soon as villains started cropping up in every corner of the world, he’d had Jarvis look out for signs that any of them were working together. It was one thing if the Matador and Ringmaster teamed up-- aka laughable-- it was quite another if _Zemo_ teamed up with anyone because he wouldn’t ally himself with someone embarrassing. And he was. With Red Skull.

Tony stared at the screen for several moments before his hands broke into a flurry of motion, calling Pepper and Rhodey while confirming what Jarvis was telling him.

There was a small click to show they were connected, a piece of nostalgia Tony would deny to the end of his days. “We have a problem.”

“Way to be a cliche Tones,” Rhodey said. Which, alright, was fair, Tony didn’t always (read: hardly ever) use these lines for their intended use, but it was called for in this situation.

“You’d say it in my position too honeybear.” Tony paused, half for dramatic effect and half because if he said it aloud, that would mean he was right, and if he was right they were all fucked. “Zemo and Red Skull are teaming up.”

“ _What?_ ” Pepper hissed.

“What for?”

“Don’t know yet,” Tony said, frustration lining his words as he zipped through footage and lines of code.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re getting together to celebrate a friend’s birthday,” Pepper said, not bothering to finished with ‘they are still dangerous’ because they all knew it.

“Nazi birthday parties probably end with bombing a hospital,” Rhodey replied, and even though there wasn’t a video feed, Tony knew he was pinching the bridge of his nose. Every time he got news like this he wanted to put on the suit and repulsor the first bad guy he saw with extreme prejudice, but it wasn’t an option.

Tony mumbled nonsensically to himself as he got deeper. “Fuck,” he whispered when he found the jackpot. “Fuck fuck fuck this is bad.”

“What are they doing?”

“Is it soon?” Pepper asked. “I can suit up right now if we need.”

“No, it’s… not today. Couple weeks, maybe, month max. Fuck.” He swallowed, looking at the information displayed in front of him. “We can’t deal with this alone.”

“...What,” Rhodey said. They _never_ worked with other people. They’d been together for seven years, and not once had they teamed up with someone else, even for a single fight. The Iron Legion trusted each other and no one else on the battlefield, and that _worked_ for them. Hell, villains in general didn’t work together, not unless they started together.

“We _can’t_ Rhodey, not if we want to stop them.”

He thought for a minute. “I’m coming over when I get off duty in,” there was a brief pause as he checked the clock, “three hours; we can talk more then.”

“Three hours,” Pepper muttered. “I think I can make that. I’ll text if I’ll be late.” With that, she clicked off.

“See you soon, Tones,” Rhodey said before hanging up too.

Tony stared at his screens, rubbing his hands against his legs because they were itching to do something but right now he needed to focus on what was in front of him. They’ve been planning this for months, but hadn’t solidified it enough until now to put it somewhere Jarvis could find.

Zemo and Red Skull launching a full-scale attack on Shield… despite both of their assertions that they would rule the world, they had never come up with something so daring before.

* * *

The Avengers stared distrustfully at them across the rooftop. Rampage and War Machine were large sentries on either side of Iron Man. Tony couldn’t blame the Avengers for being nervous. Between the three of them, they could take out most of the Avengers if they had the mind to. Captain Marvel would survive, as would Thor if he were on planet at the moment, but the rest of them wouldn’t stand much of a chance. He hoped they weren’t _too_ aware of that fact-- it wouldn’t exactly foster trust, even the small amount they needed for this.

“Shouldn’t you start?” Hawkeye called out from the Avengers’ side of the roof. “You’re the ones that called us.”

“Zemo and Red Skull are planning an attack on Shield.” No use beating around the bush, especially since Tony had told Cap that’s what he wanted to meet about.

“Assuming that’s true,” Black Widow said, “why would you tell us?”

“We’re villains, not Nazis,” War Machine’s gruff vocalizer intoned. Tony smirked behind his helmet; Rhodey hated having to call them villains, but he would in a heartbeat if it meant distinguishing between them and the villains that wanted billions of people dead so they could rule over the graveyard. “We can’t take them out on our own.” Tony could perfectly visualize Pepper’s eye roll at that-- she insisted that if Tony would just let her loose the three of them could take care of it. Tony agreed, but the civilian casualties would be high without someone looking after that specifically, and none of them wanted that. “And frankly,” Rhodey added, because he was an asshole, “neither can you.”

“You want to test that theory?” Captain Marvel challenged, lightning crackling around her in a way the Iron Legion knew was just for show.

Tony rolled his eyes and wished, not for the first time, that it could be conveyed through the helmet. “You can barely handle when one of them gets a new villain-in-training as a sidekick, how do you propose to handle them working together, mini Cap? The power of love?”

She opened her mouth to say something-- probably that the Avengers and X-men and Fantastic Four all teaming up with Shield at their backs would be able to beat them-- but stopped when Captain America gave her a look. “You can’t blame us for being skeptical,” he said instead of whatever the rest of them wanted to say.

Rhodey took over explaining the how’s and why’s, and Tony tuned him out, surveying the Avengers. Captain America and his newly reclaimed bestie, the Winter Soldier, stood side by side. Tony hoped they were happy together, now that they were out of the homophobic hellhole that the 40’s must have been. He didn’t know who either of them were, but he would have felt better if he did, for insurance or blackmail if it came down to it. Fury was keeping those identities particularly close to his chest, so close that there weren’t any digital copies for Tony to find, probably only physical copies that he’d have to storm Shield HQ for. Romanoff and Barton hadn’t been hard to discover because of their history with Shield, Tony knew Jan personally, and Danvers wasn’t that hard to piece together just from the timeline, and the same stood for Wilson. Everyone knew who Thor and Hulk were-- at least before Bruce lovingly ran off to a state-of-the-art lab Tony built for him in the ass end of nowhere. Still, he was on call for them or something. But Captain America and the Winter Soldier were a mystery. Tony didn’t like mysteries.

The Avengers seemed to understand the gravity of the situation after a few minutes and agreed cooperation was necessary. They planned to meet the next day and parted ways. Tony wasn’t sure they trusted them even the slightest bit, which, okay hurt a little; he’d grown up dreaming about Captain America, same as Rhodey along with half the nation. He understood, of course, but it still sucked ass.

* * *

Back at the Compound, everyone took their masks off and sat at the table. Bucky set his on the table in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest. It had been weeks since he’d… seen Tony and he was feeling off kilter because of it. His heat had been brutal, and he hadn’t talked to Steve about what he did. Tony might have, but Steve didn’t say anything to him about it other than a non-specific “Are you okay?”.

“Alright team,” Steve said, his helmet on his lap where his fingers were smoothing over it compulsively, “what do you think?”

“They seemed pretty worried,” Jan said. “It felt genuine.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t looking for a way for this to benefit them,” Carol said.

Jan shrugged, unconcerned. “They’re villains, that’s what they do. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a real threat.”

“We don’t know they aren’t playing both sides,” Natasha weighed in. “They could have driven them to work to together and then come to us asking for help.”

“To what end?” Bucky asked. None of them disliked the Iron Legion, but Carol didn’t trust much of anyone outside the Avengers, and Natasha was prone to playing devil’s advocate.

“They get our help in wiping their competition out,” Carol replied.

“I dunno,” Clint said, “it doesn’t seem like their style. Did you notice? They hated having to ask us for help. Maybe not Iron Man, but War Machine and Rampage, definitely.”

Steve hummed. “Sam? What do you think?”

“I think their intel is solid so their motivation doesn’t matter. We can worry about them later, when we actually have the time.” Bucky nodded along in agreement. Even if he wasn’t of the mind that calling them villains was hasty and misguided, Sam would be right. Red Skull and Zemo. They had bigger fish to fry at the moment.

“I agree,” Steve said after a little consideration. “Even if this is part of some convoluted plan of theirs, we don’t have the time to worry about it now. Everyone go get changed while I talk to Director Fury. We’ll meet here again in an hour to plan.”

Bucky waited until the others left the room to stand, stretching his arms as he did. The door snicked close and he turned to Steve in confusion.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, ‘i'm fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Do you want a list.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’m not that bad.”

“Your heat was really rough. You’ve been quiet since then, which means something happened. The Iron Legion are your favorite villains to defend, and yet you barely said two words.” Steve held his hands up. “Look, if you don’t want me to pry, I won’t, but only if you promise me you’re okay.”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

“No,” Steve agreed easily, “but that’s because if it was nothing, you’d be over it by now.”

Bucky sighed, putting his hands on the table and leaning into it. “Did Tony… say anything to you?”

“No. Did he hurt you?” Steve asked, looking concerned.

Bucky huffed out a laugh. “Christ, Stevie, no, he didn’t hurt me. Nothin’ like that. Just- did he say anything?”

“No,” he said slowly. “Buck, what happened?”

Bucky looked down at the table where his hands were curling into fists. He felt vulnerable and his instinct was to fight, but this was Steve. He breathed out and let his hands lay flat again. “Don’t get mad, alright? I- well, I sorta- uh, came onto him. In my preheat.”

“Ah, and um, what did he do?”

Bucky looked at him incredulously. “He turned me down. Obviously, I mean,” he gestured vaguely towards Steve with one hand before rubbing it over his face. “Look I’m sorry, it clearly made him uncomfortable and he hasn’t been to our apartment since so I haven’t had a chance to apologize, and it’s not like I have his number.” He started for the door. “I’m sorry I fucked things up, okay? It won’t happen again.” He walked out and closed the door behind him so Steve wouldn’t have to think of a response. The damage had been done-- it didn’t matter if he never did it again.

And god that was just the tip of the issue, wasn’t it? Not only did he come onto Steve’s boyfriend who was now avoiding _Steve_ because of it, but Tony had rejected him. He’d known he would-- if he had accepted, there would be a completely different set of issues to deal with, like how the hell he could cheat on Stevie-- but it hurt all the same. No matter how Bucky tried to think about it logically, all he could feel was the pain when Tony said no and pushed him away. He’d- christ, he’d felt so happy for that minute and a half, happy in a way that had only happened before with Steve or the Avengers. It just made him feel more guilty. He was in love with Tony, and there was no way Steve didn’t know now.

His head was hung as he went to his room in the Compound and took a shower. He knew Steve wouldn’t do anything about it, but it would make things weird between them and that was the last thing he wanted.

He felt- well not _better_ , but no less worse when Steve confirmed that yes, they were going to be working with the Iron Legion. He cautioned them to be careful, to remember that this was a temporary alliance, but they all knew that with a project like this, there was only so much they could do.

* * *

_Shitstorm_ , was the first word to come to mind. The Avengers didn’t trust them which, while smart, was really fucking unhelpful and is what led them to be in this situation in the first place.

“We have intel this is where we need to be,” Cap had said. “I’m afraid that information is classified,” Cap had said. Tony couldn’t exactly call bullshit on that because it would mean admitting he’d hacked into Shield’s servers, but he did convey as much skepticism as he could, which did fuck-all to help them right now. There was a spy in Shield. Probably more than one, but they were high-up. Scarily high-up. Okay so maybe it wasn’t the Avengers’ fault, but he was still going to blame them until he knew who was actually responsible.

Tony wanted to destroy something, preferably the spy/spies.

So here they were, trapped in the basement floors of a building that also had many above ground filled with civilians. Their coms still worked with each other, but were cut off from anything outside their current prison, and they couldn’t blast their way out.

Rampage was pacing like a caged animal, and War Machine was taking turns staring at the walls, clenching and unclenching his hands. Tony was leaning against a wall that was next to one of the doors, arms folded across his chest. “Any more brilliant ideas, Cap?” he asked after several minutes of silence.

“This isn’t his fault,” the Winter Soldier snapped with what was probably a glare in his direction.

“Don’t be ridiculous darling, I was blaming all of you, not just him.”

The Winter Soldier took a step towards him, but stopped when Rampage moved between them, her posture just _begging_ him to give her a reason. With a small, frustrated growl, he stepped back, and she resumed her pacing.

“You ever heard the phrase ‘clean house’ Cap?” Tony asked, not having moved a millimeter from his spot.

“And what,” he replied, voice icy, “is that supposed to mean?” Tony had learned from footage that he reserved that voice for when people insulted his team.

He rolled his eyes. As if he’d bad mouth the Winter Soldier to his boyfriend’s face. “It means,” he said, kicking himself off the wall, “that we wouldn’t be in this situation if Shield didn’t have a fucking mole at the top of their ranks. It _means_ that if Fury was less trusting, we wouldn’t be risking suffocating in here.”

“You think Fury’s trusting?” Hawkeye snorted, but everyone else ignored him.

“None of us are traitors,” Captain Marvel snarled.

“I wouldn’t dream of implying such a thing.”

“You just said--”

“I said _Shield_ has a traitor,” he corrected, walking to the door. No handle, no release, trace amounts of adamantium built into it. Almost as if it had been created specifically to keep in a few choice superheroes. Air-tight. Almost as if… shit. They wanted Iron Man. He looked up and around the tops of the walls. No vents that he could see, no cameras either, but there was no way they were all sitting in here unmonitored.

It was less a room, and more of an extra large hallway if the two doors and four walls that made a perfect rectangle were anything to go by.

“Anyone see a camera?” he asked, still searching. Most everyone shook their heads after a minute of looking.

“Half the tiles are standard,” War Machine offered.

“Huh. So they are.” Tony raised a hand to start blasting them, but Cap was next to him in an instant and pushed his arm down.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Finding a way out.”

“By bringing the ceiling down on us?”

“This was designed to keep us in here. Waiting for us to start dying isn’t an option, Therefore,” he raised his free hand and wiggled his fingers. Cap stepped away after a moment, but he looked reluctant to do so. He didn’t destroy the _entire_ ceiling, just twenty of them. In his defense, the tiles are only 4 inches across so there’s a lot of them.

Jan shrunk and flew up without prompting, keeping a running commentary through her communicator. “Alright, lots of debris up here. Geesh Iron Man do your repulsors not vaporize? It’s like mountain climbing up here. A-ha! I spy with my little eye, a teeny tiny buggie that does not belong-y.”

“Wasp,” Cap said, half fond, half reprimanding.

“Whaddya want me to do with it Cap?”

“Bring it down here,” Tony said. When Captain America glared at him, he added, “What’s the harm in letting me take a look? Either we get something from it, or we smash it twenty seconds later.”

He sighed, but more like he didn’t feel like talking to Tony than that he agreed. “Fine.”

Tony sighed when Wasp plopped it in his hand, but it wasn’t audible through the mask’s filters. The camera was too low-tech for him to get anything other than frustrated. He crushed it in his palm then looked up. “Nothing. Anything else up there?”

“I’ll check,” Jan said, shrinking again and darting up. There were a few more cameras, all of them equally useless, but he passed one off to both Rhodey and Pepper to make sure. Rhodey ground his to dust because he liked stomping on things, and Pepper tossed her’s in the air and shot it with her repulsor because she liked shooting things. Also because she was as dramatic as Tony, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

Captain America seemed equally disappointed, but it was possible Tony was projecting ( _See Pep? I’m self aware)_. Regardless, he said, “Wasp, get back up there and see if you can find a way out. We’ll be fine while you go to Shield.” It turned out that it didn’t matter if she could find a way out for herself because what she _did_ find was the locks for the door. A little destruction on her part, and they were free to go further into the building. Behind them was unlocked as well, but since they were no longer trapped, no one saw a reason to leave.

They walked as one down the hallway, all of them on the lookout for danger. It hadn’t been long before they came to a turn and needed to either split up or hope they picked the correct one on the first try and didn’t alert anyone.

Fortunately Cap wasn’t an idiot and split them up into groups. Tony went with Cap and Winter Soldier, much to both Pepper and Rhodey’s concern and loudly voiced complaints. Tony shrugged them off because like hell he was going to let either of them be alone with two super soldiers. There was no chance of Jan or Carol betraying them, and while Barton and Romanoff would be the most likely to, they were baseline human and neither War Machine nor Rampage could be overwhelmed by them.

Tony thought things were going fine, he honestly did in spite of being between Cap and the Soldier because they didn’t trust him enough to be behind both of them or leading, but the next thing he knew his hud was flashing red with warnings and the ceiling was collapsing and the Winter Soldier was fast but even he couldn’t dodge the jagged block of concrete that was going to fall on his head. Without a moment’s thought, his repulsors went full power and he flung himself into the Soldier, knocking him out of harm’s way.

...Mostly.

The armor was positioned above his head and torso, and Tony didn’t dare move as the ceiling continued to break and crumble. When it stopped, Tony hesitantly looked around. The only light was coming from him, the florescent lights from the ceiling long since shattered and only rubble surrounding them.

Carefully, he moved off of him and sat as much to the side as he could-- which wasn’t much in this space. He tried his com, but no one replied. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything, and it just wasn’t possible that the fucking ceiling had collapsed on them and no one had thoughts about it. “You okay?” he asked.

The Winter Soldier’s chest was heaving and he struggled, but fuck if Tony knew what he was struggling with. Until, at least, he said, “I can’t move my legs,” through a broken voice modifier, probably damaged before Tony had been able to fully cover him. He tore off his cracked goggles with his left hand and propped himself up with his right.

Tony followed his line of sight and swallowed thickly. There wasn’t space for him to stand, so he crawled over and placed a hand on his leg to stop the frantic movements. He leaned over and inspected where the concrete was pinning the Soldier’s calves to the floor. Numbers scrolled across his screen and dread settled in his gut. “I can’t get you free without bringing it all down.”

The Soldier let his head fall back on the floor. “Fuckin’ figures.”

Something about his voice tickled Tony’s mind, but he couldn’t place it right away.

“Not that I’m blaming you, but it-” his leg jerked like he wanted to try and free it “-fucking sucks.”

Tony’s head whipped to the side. “ _Bucky?_ ” he asked incredulously, hand lifting off the other man’s leg.

He froze and stared at the Iron Man faceplate with trepidation. “Who the hell is Bucky?” he tried, but Tony recognized those eyes and even if Bucky had been able to tell the lie better, Tony would have known.

He fell back onto his heels, staring at him with wide eyes that Bucky couldn’t see. Christ, it was _Bucky_ , and if Bucky was the Winter Soldier, then he definitely thought Iron Man was a villain and- oh shit. “Steve’s Captain America,” he said, his voice oddly steady for all the emotions swirling in him.

Bucky’s body got even more rigid and he tried futilely to move for a second. “Look pal, I don’t know what you think you know, but--” He stopped abruptly when Tony took off the helmet. “Tony- what are you- are you- _Tony_.” His throat worked convulsively before he managed to say a whole sentence. “Steve doesn’t know does he?” he asked, but he obviously knew the answer.

“Don’t tell him,” Tony said, and if it was any other time he would be worried about the plea in his voice. “He’d- shit. He’d turn me in.”

Bucky shook his head and took off his mask since it wasn’t doing his job. Tony wished he had kept it on when he saw the absolutely devastated look on Bucky’s face. “No he wouldn’t.” He said it with such conviction that Tony almost believed him. Almost.

“He’s Captain America-- he’d have to.”

“He wouldn’t,” Bucky insisted. “You don’t--” he broke off, swallowed, looked away. “You don’t kill people.”

“Shield has me classified as a high risk threat.”

“Because of what you _can_ do, not what you’ve done,” Bucky said easily, like he’d thought about it before. “And how do you know what Shield classified you as?”

“I have clearance? Not much, officially, but enough to know they don’t like Iron Man.”

“Why would you have clearance?” Bucky asked, seeming honestly confused.

“Did you hit your head on something else while I wasn’t looking? I’m a consultant for Shield, Buck. Hell, I made your arm!”

“Stark did that,” he argued, and all Tony could do was stare.

“I know you know my last name.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah I know your name is Tony Stark too, but- oh,” he stopped, eyes going an innocent sort of round. “Oh you’re _the_ Tony Stark.” His face turned red with embarrassment and he covered it with his hands. “Okay invasion of Red Skull and Zemo is over, leave me alone to die now.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Tony said, making Bucky snort and mutter, “Learned from the best didn’t I?” Tony was able to forget for a moment how dire their situation was, if _only_ for these moments. He was even able to forget the way he’d _wanted_ in Bucky’s pre-heat and what had come after. “How did you not know who I am?”

Bucky glared at him, but it was petulant. “You don’t exactly come over lookin’ like a billionaire. Hell, I thought you were struggling to make ends meet and that’s why you were always working yourself half to death.” He shook his head and the humour started to leave his face. “Stevie’s going to freak.”

“He already knows I’m the best Tony Stark.”

Bucky gave him a dry and pointed look at the armor, but turned more serious. “He’s not going’ to take it easy, even if you’re not much of a villain.”

“You’re not going to tell him,” Tony said, desperation audible if faint.

“I’m not gonna be able to keep it secret,” Bucky replied, and he did sound sorry about it. “Besides, he should know. You’ve been together a while now, either he was going to know or you were going’ to stop.”

Tony frowned, feeling-- suddenly-- out of the moment, but not in the easy way as before. “What?”

“C’mon, Tony, you can’t tell me you two were going’ to keep on like this for years.”

“What?” he repeated.

Bucky looked at him, concerned. “You sure _you_ didn’t hit your head?”

“Me and Steve aren’t together.”

“Yes you are.”

“I’m pretty sure I would notice if I was dating someone Bucky.”

“But… you kissed him.”

Tony blinked, remembering. “Wait, you mean the _first time_ I met you?” Bucky nodded. “That was just to see if he would blush,” Tony said in a tone that made it sound like he thought _Bucky_ was the one not thinking straight.

“Most people don’t kiss their friends just to see if they blush,” Bucky said, and there was something extra in his tone but all Tony could think was that Bucky thought Tony was dating his best friend. That would certainly explain why he was always leaving the room to ‘give you and Steve some time alone’.

“It doesn’t mean anything! I get handsy when I’m tired and once I kissed him on the cheek and he got so flustered that he kissed me. It’s a running joke, when he gets onto me for not sleeping, I’ll give him a quick peck, and it-- god, it doesn’t mean anything, I swear.”

“Oh,” Bucky said faintly.

Tony rubbed at his face with his hands, and the feel of his metal gauntlets against his face reminded him of where they were, of the position they were in, that Bucky was a goddamn superhero and Tony… wasn’t. Looking around now, he wondered how the hell he’d ever forgotten, this wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of comfortable. “We can talk about this later. Let’s just focus on getting you out now.”

He put his helmet back on and ignored how awkward it suddenly felt to be in an enclosed space with someone he’d been avoiding for the past month. Thinking about _why_ he’d been avoiding him made him feel even worse.

“I thought you said you couldn’t move anything?”

Tony didn’t answer. “Your com working?”

“No. Tony are you… okay?”

“Fine,” he said shortly, then winced, which didn’t do anything to make Bucky believe him. Tony couldn’t stand to his full height in this space, so instead of pacing around their little area, he was reduced to either crawling or walking around half-hunched over. If he didn’t look at Bucky, he didn’t have to deal with this, right? Right.

Some of the rubble was more precariously placed than others, and would likely fall given enough time whether they moved anything or not.

“Sorry,” Bucky said suddenly. Tony paused. “For- uh- the other day. When you came by mine and Steve’s. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, and I shouldn’t have done that. But,” he let out a strained laugh, “I do feel a bit better now that I know I didn’t accidentally make you cheat on Steve.”

Tony didn’t say anything, just kept looking at one of their makeshift walls. Were they really going to do this now?

“I really am sorry.” He swallowed thickly. “It won’t happen again. Can you- are you going to start visiting again? Maybe not right away, but someday?” he asked hopefully.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Tony said, heart constricting as he saw Bucky’s face fall. “I’m not sure two Avengers should be friends with a supervillain,” he added.

To his surprise, Bucky scoffed. “I sexually assault you, and you’re concerned about hero status?”

“You didn’t assault me,” Tony said.

“You told me to stop.”

“And you did. I thought supersoldiers were supposed to have excellent memories,” he said, inspecting a particularly dangerous piece of rebar. If it fell right now, Bucky would be fine, but if Tony freed his legs, they’d need to move away from the front, which would put them directly in the line of Murder By Metal Stick.

He lifted his arm and the laser popped up. It started cutting through and Tony raised his other arm to catch the rebar before it could fall.

“You know what’s weird though,” Tony said even as his mind wondering what the _hell_ he was doing, “Steve told me that you don’t like people around you when you go into heat. He seemed awfully concerned that you’d hurt me, and when I told him he could hire an alpha for your next heat, he was surprised.”

“Yeah. Weird,” he agreed flatly.

“It kinda seems like you hitting on me was specific to me. That’s enough to go to an alpha’s head, you know,” Tony teased.

“Can we not?” Bucky said quietly, not looking at him.

Tony paused. “I didn’t--”

“You were out of my league even when I thought you weren’t _the_ Tony Stark, there’s no need to be a dick about it.”

Tony blinked, then knelt down beside him and took off his helmet. “Have you met you?” Tony asked in a soft voice. When Bucky looked at him cautiously, Tony gave him a small smile. “Between the two us, I’m not the unattainable one.”

Bucky opened his mouth to reply, but the moment was ruined by a close crash that shifted some of the rubble surrounding them. “Later?”

Tony nodded and gave him another smile. “Later.” He pulled the helmet back on, the hiss and click of it reconnecting not as reassuring a noise as it usually was.

Another crash.

Tony looked at Bucky, and saw that he was clipping his face mask on. “Trust me?”

“Not to get me killed,” he agreed, mirth dancing in his eyes.

“Good, because that’s all I can offer right now.”

* * *

Tony and Bucky missed most of the fighting stuck in their little rubble prison, but funnily enough, their position behind all the others stopped Zemo from getting away, so, glass half-full situation.

After the battle was well and truly finished and the Avengers and Iron Legion parted ways, it started to hit Tony just how badly that could have gone. The him and Bucky part, not the Red Skull and Zemo part. Bucky didn’t think he was a villain, hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash at it, but Tony hadn’t been thinking of that when he revealed himself. Christ Bucky could have killed him or told everyone, and he didn’t. Well technically Bucky still could tell everyone he was Iron Man, but he hadn’t shown any inclination for it after discovering that Steve and Tony weren’t dating.

Tony showed up to their apartment the next day, and the fact that Steve looked only relieved to see him when he answered the door was proof that Bucky hadn’t told him. It was strange to see Steve and know that he was Captain America, but it also made Tony feel better to know it was him and not some asshole.

“Hey Tony. Are you okay? You haven’t been over in a while.”

Tony bit down on the natural response of _I saw you yesterday_ and shrugged. “Busy. Bucky home?”

Steve smiled, shaking his head fondly. “I haven’t seen you in a month and all you care about is Bucky. Yeah, he’s in the kitchen,” he said, letting Tony in. He didn’t close the door behind him though, instead raising an eyebrow and asking, “Should I clear out?” because he _was_ an asshole, but a nice one.

 _With superhearing, yeah, probably_. God this was going to kill Tony. Hiding himself as Iron Man had been surprisingly easy, but Steve being Captain America was going to be impossible to survive. “If you don’t mind,” was what he ended up saying.

Steve smirked and grabbed his jacket. “Have fun. Use protection.”

Tony flipped him off, but that only made him smile wider as he left. “Bucky?” he asked as he headed to the kitchen.

He was sitting at the table, his hands covering his face. It was unfamiliar but right to see the prosthetic on him in the apartment. “Stevie’s an embarrassing little punk.”

“It was good advice,” Tony said, sitting in one of the other chairs. “Besides, he’s Captain America, he’s not a little punk. He’s a _big_ punk.”

“And you’re not any better,” he groaned. He dropped his hands. “After we finished debrief yesterday, I told him that I thought the two of you were dating and that’s why I didn’t ask you on date, and he’s been insufferable ever since.”

“It’s only been one day.”

Bucky gave him a look. “He can be a dick when he wants to, and believe me, he _wants to_. I’m about to fuck him over just so I can deserve it.”

“If you’re suggesting we have sex on the couch and stink up the apartment, I approve.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t seem the least bit averse to the idea if the sexy rumble to his voice was anything to go by. “Before the first date? I thought you were a wine and dine sorta fella, Alpha Stark.”

Tony pretended to look unimpressed even as his pants tightened. “I can wine and dine you all day sweetheart, you just have to prove you’re worth it.” He watched as Bucky’s eyes darkened and he deliberately licked his lips just to see Bucky track the movement. Admittedly he’d come over to ask Bucky on a date, but fuck if Bucky was up for this he was _more_ than okay with that.

In the span of two seconds, Bucky was out of his chair and straddling Tony. His arms were resting on the back of the chair on either side of Tony’s head, and he stared into Tony’s eyes, almost challenging him, as he rolled his hips against him.

“God how are you real,” Tony gasped as his hands flew to touch Bucky’s thighs. He ran his hands up, then down, and back, feeling the muscles there and wanting little more in the world than to get those dumbass pants off and touch him uninhibited. Tony moved one of his hands up Bucky’s body to thread through his hair.

Bucky rolled his hips again, then hesitated. “We have some things we need to talk about.”

“I know. Like how you watched a show about Iron Man and Tony Stark being a team but still somehow didn’t realize it was me,” he joked, before turning slightly more serious again. “But it can wait a couple hours, can’t it?”

“‘Hours’?”

Tony smirked at him and moved his hand on Bucky’s thigh teasingly over his erection. “I have a few theories I want to test about how the serum affected your refractory period.”

Bucky laughed a little. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Just wait,” Tony said, leaning up to bring his mouth to Bucky’s. Their lips moved against each other’s in a way that was the slightest bit awkward but full of potential. Tony sucked Bucky’s bottom lip into his mouth and let it drag through his teeth on its way out.

Bucky whimpered and his hips jerked against Tony’s, filling him with a thrill. How had he _ever_ thought he could live without this?

* * *

Tony woke comfortably, warm and content. He was used to waking all at once and jumping out of bed whether he actually wanted to or not; there were always things to do, and besides, he didn’t have a reason to stay in bed.

He thought he had a handful of blanket, but when he tried to bring it closer, it turned out to be Bucky’s metal arm, warm from him hugging it all night. He traced the lines of the plates as he yawned. The arm moved a bit, as if to pull away, but Tony held it tighter. “Mine.”

Bucky chuckled. “‘M not sure that’s true doll.”

“It _could_ be true,” he mumbled.

Bucky snorted and kissed the back of Tony’s neck, making him shiver. “What was it you said? ‘That’s slavery or prostitution depending on what state you’re in’?”

“How is it that you know that but didn’t know who I was?”

“Clint told me while I was joining the Avengers and being briefed on you; he thought it was funny.”

Tony turned over so he would be facing him. “I _still_ don’t know how you didn’t realize it was me.”

Bucky kissed him, slow and unhurried. “Don’t worry, you’re the only important Tony Stark, and I know that now.”

“You’d better,” Tony grumbled, but both he and Bucky knew it was just for show.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@cami-chats](http://cami-chats.tumblr.com)


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